…. On Tuesday, another Obama administration official — James Jones, the White House national security adviser — hammered home the point to the 1,500-plus attendees at the Grand Hyatt Washington. His message from the White House to the J Street conference was one of inevitability: of peace, of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship — and of J Street.

“You can be sure this administration will be represented at all future conferences,” Jones said. …

Debating pro-Israel money.

It’s not every day that two Jewish congressmen politely debate whether Jewish political contributions control U.S. policy in the Middle East.

For decades, AIPAC has dominated DC’s Israel lobby. But a popular president and dissent within the advocacy ranks could lead to a showdown on Middle East policy. …

while independent of AIPAC, many of these organizations look to the mother ship for guidance on which candidates to support. During the 2008 election cycle, according to an analysis conducted for Mother Jones by the center, these 31 PACs and their individual donors funneled an eye-popping $22.5 million to various candidates. …

… what sends some in the Jewish establishment into paroxysms of fear and panic – is to younger and progressive Americans, particularly Jews, who are turned off by the Israel-first establishment’s intolerance of dissent and its steady rightward tilt, something that has been on display in the failed effort to stifle J Street.

And J Street has a sympathetic ear at the White House, which is not unaware of how the old-line organizations worked against President Barack Obama’s election …

The Netanyahu government and its ambassador here may be shunning J Street, but not the White House. …

The group comes out of this week as the recognized voice of the pro-peace, pro-Israel Jewish community at the expense of long-standing groups like Americans for Peace Now and Israel Policy Forum. What sets it apart, and so terrifies the hard-line establishment, is that unlike the others it has a political action committee (PAC) that raises and contributes money for political campaigns – something essential to being an effective player today. …

With a $3 million budget it certainly is no threat to the money-making juggernaut that is AIPAC, which raises $70 million a year for itself and heavily influences millions more going directly to politicians.

So terrified of J Street were some old-line organizations that they mounted a campaign of calls, e-mails and threats from supporters to politicians to shun J Street lest their political contributions dry up and their pro-Israel bona fides be brought into question.

… Now is the time to say to the United States: Enough flattery. If you don’t change the tone, nothing will change. As long as Israel feels the United States is in its pocket, and that America’s automatic veto will save it from condemnations and sanctions, that it will receive massive aid unconditionally, and that it can continue waging punitive, lethal campaigns without a word from Washington, killing, destroying and imprisoning without the world’s policeman making a sound, it will continue in its ways.

Illegal acts like the occupation and settlement expansion, and offensives that may have involved war crimes, as in Gaza, deserve a different approach. If America and the world had issued condemnations after Operation Summer Rains in 2006 – which left 400 Palestinians dead and severe infrastructure damage in the first major operation in Gaza since the disengagement – then Operation Cast Lead never would have been launched.

It is true that unlike all the world’s other troublemakers, Israel is viewed as a Western democracy, but Israel of 2009 is a country whose language is force. Anwar Sadat may have been the last leader to win our hearts with optimistic, hope-igniting speeches. If he were to visit Israel today, he would be jeered off the stage. The Syrian president pleads for peace and Israel callously dismisses him, the United States begs for a settlement freeze and Israel turns up its nose. This is what happens when there are no consequences for Israel’s inaction. …

Israel must understand that perpetuating the status quo will exact a painful price.

Israel of 2009 is a spoiled country, arrogant and condescending, convinced that it deserves everything and that it has the power to make a fool of America and the world. The United States has engendered this situation, which endangers the entire Mideast and Israel itself. That is why there needs to be a turning point in the coming year – Washington needs to finally say no to Israel and the occupation. An unambiguous, presidential no.